from a reflection on the Roman ‘matter’, this article first examines the reasons why the novel is being challenged in the early years of the 20th century (wear and tear, criticism of realism, mismatch with the time, rejection of generic classifications, etc.). It then analyses the work of dematerialising Roman equipment (dislocation of the spatial and temporal framework, history, character construction and function of the narrative, acceleration and brevity, etc.). this deconstruction of this kind is then envisaged as the search for new narrative forms: it specifies certain characteristics of this ‘pure novel’ (the fact preferred to action and installation in the intrigue, hence the generic and material heterogeneity of the pre-gardist novel). He thus assumes that, less than a rejection or abandonment of the novel, the historical foresight tried to propose a new narrative theory, which may lead to an aporie, but now resonates in hypermedia theories.